Let the (Family) Feud Begin!

During one particularly reclusive winter break in college, I spent the majority of my days watching re-runs of Dawson’s Creek, eating croutons straight from the box and playing online “Family Feud.” Why I didn’t have a boyfriend I’ll never understand.

I had always enjoyed watching “Family Feud” growing up and felt—as most viewers do when watching any game show—that I could do 100 percent better than the people actually competing.

In my defense, this was a pretty fair assessment, considering contestants would throw out answers like “paint their own pottery” and “eat dinner” when asked to name the first thing people do when they wake up in the morning. This was usually followed by a shot of several embarrassed family members doing a condescending golf clap and mumbling “good answer…good answer.”

Unfortunately, it was unlikely that I’d ever make it on to the show. My family wasn’t going to California any time soon and even if we did, we’d never advance to the Fast Money round. (During an infamous round of the board game “Like Minds” several years ago, my future sister-in-law Torie responded with “1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” when asked to name TV channels. The incident upsets me to this day.)

Thus, with nothing but a pipe dream and an increasingly debilitating online gaming habit, I jumped at the opportunity to live vicariously through others: A “Family Feud”-style showdown between five students and five parents from the University of Las Vegas during NAA’s fifth annual Student Housing Conference & Exposition at the Wynn Las Vegas in February.

The survey answers revealed during the 75-minute game show were based on responses from 11,195 college students and 3,605 parents from 159 different colleges and universities, who were polled via e-mail Jan. 20-Feb. 1 by J Turner Research.

The study, which surveyed students residing in campus housing communities owned or operated by Campus Apartments, EdR, Grand Campus Living and Peak Campus Management, aimed to provide developers, owners, operators, onsite staff and multifamily marketing executives with a clear understanding of the differences and similarities between students and parents when it comes to apartment features, community amenities and resident programs.

Although there were many interesting moments during the fun-spirited, jam-packed session hosted by Jessica Nix, Vice President of Marketing, Peak Campus Management, I was particularly fascinated to discover that my future sister-in-law isn’t the only one who struggles with TV channels.

When asked to name college students’ favorite cable channels, one parent answered “Jersey Shores”—neither a channel, nor the correct name of the hit MTV show.